Character: A Peek Into J.h. Clarke's

[Baba Ahmed]

This Western, aka Euro-American, white, society teaches that a person’s private life is separate from his or her public life. To me this is an anti-Afrikan, indigenous worldview. Often I’m entangled with my sistas and bruthas who pump a media promoted person as “great� and when some flaw in character is mentioned that initiates a “his or her private life has nothing to do with the public life; accept what’s seen in public, forget the rest.� I oppose this view; for regardless of how many personalities are shown, all come from one person.

I offer here an example as seen in how John Henrik Clarke’s colleagues, associates, students and hordes of admirers describe him: ‘A small man of gentle mien and at the same time a giant among men; a soft-spoken man, and a fearless freedom fighter; a modest man who boasts of his African heritage; a man who smiles easily, and an angry man; …a husband; a father; an activist; a historian; a college professor; a writer; a poet; a captivating lecturer; a story teller; an internationally respected scholar; a philosopher; a social commentator; a raconteur; a book reviewer; a griot; a curriculum specialist; the father of Black Studies; a master teacher of African history and, perhaps, the possessor of the finest mind of our time. He was all of these things and more. And, like all multi-talented people, he did all of them well, and many of them at the same time.’ (From An introduction in Dr. John Henrik Clarke – His Life, His Words, His Works. P. 21-22).

I mention this here for following is another example of his character, in his words from Harlem – My Window on the World. Check it:

‘Malcom X was a freedom fighter, committed to obtaining freedom for his people, by any means necessary. He was surprisingly shy, and this shyness was a side of his personality the public, unfortunately, never got to know. Yet, this childlike shyness was the source of his strength, and reinforced his manhood. He was a beautiful human being. We had a warm and human friendship that would continue until his death.

‘Malcolm was coming from one way – Martin Luther King, Jr. was coming from another way; a spiritual way. I knew and admired both of these great men. Many years later, Hollywood would contact me about both of them. The first time was when Malcolm was in his heyday. They had heard of my work, and requested that I write a screen,play on Malcolm and his message. They made it quite clear that they knew of his time in prison, his involvement with shady people, and had heard some scandal connected with him. They instructed me to make sure I include all of these juicy elements in the screenplay.

‘Their opening offer was $75,000 and a life time job. $75,000 was more money than I had paid for our home in Harlem. $75,000 was more money than this sharecropper’s son had seen in his whole lifetime, and more than he had ever hoped to have earned at one time. Times were slim, and Lord knows I needed money. But I listened carefully to their proposal, pretended to consider it, and turned them down flat. I could not write a negative piece on Malcolm X, and live with myself, for any amount of money.

‘The second time they called, it was about Martin Luther King, Jr. The information that was the basis for the book, The Walls Came Tumbling Down, by Ralph David Abernathy, was brought to me, in the hope that I would write the script. Although I seriously disagreed with his method, I held a profound respect for Martin Luther King, Jr. When they came this time, they made me the same proposal, and offered me even more money. This time, as usual, I needed money badly, but turned them down again.’

‘Through the years, I have thought about my decision, and imagined all the things that kind of money would afforded me and my family. Had I accepted their offers, we would have had a rather comfortable life. I have not been able to amass that much money in the long years of my career. However, we survived and did almost all the things we wanted to do without it. But most importantly, today I can still look into the mirror, and smile at the face that looks back at me. I did the right thing, not only for me and my family, but for my people the world over.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Baba note: Dr. Clarke’s career spans over 60 years, professionally.

[Baba Ahmed]

To continue peeking into life and works of Dr. Clarke, he's speaking about his travels in Afrika, and is returning home. He writes:

'I had been to Nigeria, to Ifa an Ibadan and had seen the leading intellectuals and the most able people of Nigeria. Nigeria was on the verge of independence, and I could see England setting up Nigeria to fall apart.

England would be successful.

The whole concept of of separate states within Nigeria, would put one group against the other, causing an internal crisis within Nigeria; a crisis that has not been resolved until this day. The Europeans forgot one thing, which we, also, seem to have forgotten:

the idea of a nation-state is European. The Africans did not have nation-states. They had territorial states; and there is a big difference between the two.

Territorial states have no tight borders. This means that, because nearly all states are multi-ethnic in character, the cultural entities in one state can relate to those of the other state. This is true of Ghana, right now.

Some of the cultural states, of the Mossi people of Burkina Faso, are in northern Ghana. When Burkina Faso has an election, the people from northern Ghana go into Burkina Faso and participate in the election. This is the difference between the territorial sate and the nation-state, where one cannot cross the border unless they show a passport.' p. 135

[Baba Ahmed]

'When I returned to New York, I decided I would write about the Africa of my dreams; the African that I had finnaly seen and gotten to know. I had lived with the people in their homes; not in a hotel. I had learned that you can never understand the culture of people if you have never stayed in their country long enough to have breakfast with them.

By living in people's homes, I learned of a custom we need to seriously think about today.

If a young man marries a girl, and he does not have enough money to set up a house with her, she lives with her family and he comes to see her, and has his last meal of the day with her. He spends some personal time with her, then he goes to his own house or to his parent's house to sleep. As a result of this practice, there are no teenage pregnancies, and the youth are properly married. This could be a kind of alternative we could consider.' p. 136